So Fantastic It's Double Fine

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on
09 Feb 2012

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Today is the day that I stand in awe of the internet and the wonderful things it can do. My particular amazement is directed at the fact that yesterday Tim Schafer (a famous adventure game designer and creator of amazing things like Psychonauts and Day of the Tentacle) created a Kickstarter project to fund a new adventure game with an ambitious funding level of $400,000. Eight hours later, he met his goal. As of the time I’m writing this, the project is at $554,000.

Think about that. In eight hours the internet came together to contribute more than half a million dollars to create an original video game. Whether or not you believe that video games are a worthwhile expenditure of money the ramifications of what just happened are staggering. As a technologist fed up with the status quo of the content industry, this is a shining beacon of where things are going.

In the future it won’t be record labels and media conglomerates deciding what is worth our time and money. It will be the creators themselves convincing us directly that they are worthwhile, that they deserve a shot. I’m a proud supporter of Tim Schafer’s game and I intend to do a lot more investing in Kickstarter projects moving forward. It’s the most honest and amazing way of raising capital that I can imagine.

On the same note, everyone should contact their Senators to support H.R. 2930, the crowdfunding bill that would allow ordinary people to invest money into startup businesses for real equity. It’s currently stalled in the Senate and getting bogged down with needless extra regulation, so some action is needed to get this thing into law!